Workmen's advocate., 1887-02-05
QUESTION OF LAND.
" THERE IS NOTHING NEW
 UNDER THE SUM-"
Alienating the Soil and Taxing LabOr-The l.abOrer a Serf Till Private Property in Land
 is Abolished Rent
 COntlscatiOn.

Apropos of an editorial in the last edition of the WORKMEN's ADvo- CATE, in which exceptions are taken to the New York Ervui0g Ttlegr0U for its reference to "IIenry Georges theories" 1t may be interesting to your readers to know how far these theories have been presented to the public before the appearance of Henry George in the literary arena; and that, too, by American publish CTS.
 l have in my possession a work published in the United States in 1851 (about the time that Henry George was ten or twelve years of age, l beIieve) and evidently writ ten several years prior to that date, with especia reference to the social conditions of England. In this yol- tune the subject of political economy is discussed from every standpoint, but the ''land question: crops up at regular intervals in a manner which indicates it to be the basis of the authors propositions. The book is easily read; the language is terse, and no unnecessary phrases obscure the well-taken points.
 How completely this volume antic- ipates in detail, the work of Henry George, may be determined by a careful perusal of the following rer- batim extracts:
 "These countries (England, Scot land and Ireland have within them selves an almost indefinite power of creating wealth; and so far from be- ing in danger of 8 superintendent population, they could in ten years, with a tenth part of the annual ex- penditures of the kingdom on un- mecessary arWameats, so outrun the increase of the population that it would be unnecessary to import one single grain of corn. * * The true reason why the population in creases more rapidly than the food is to be found, not in the laws of God, but in the political laws which have made such q disposition of the soil as absolutely prevents it from being turned to account. * The laboring population of Britain and Ireland must reap the fruits of a system that first allocates all the soil to thirty or forty thousand pro prietors, and then places the hcavi- est taxation in the world on the mass of the inhabitants.
 '"The difficulties are neither with the soil, nor the climate, nor the price of produce; they all hinge on the political arrangement which the law has made with regard to the soil and its tenure; and until this ar rangement is destroyed, the soil never can produce its maximum. * The radical evil. the mas ter-piece of mischief, that requires be corrected, is the alienation 0t Me soil from He Aation and Me taratiou of He labor ot' He country Opp. 995 to 29S).
 "The evil is expressed in few words and. sooner or later, the na- ton will appreciate it and rectify it. It is 'He alienation Qf the soil t,0m he State, aud He consequent taration g Ms industry ct he cou"try. *
 The essential part of this politi- cal arrangement Is, all persons in the nation are forbidden, under pains and penalties to use a certain portion of land (with the exception of the granter, or by his permission). * If We turn to the effects of this arrangement we find that the grantee is in no respect bound to make the land produce. He may